


Misttopia

by AniecaSophistica



Category: Cosmere - Brandon Sanderson, Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson, The Alloy of Law - Brandon Sanderson
Genre: CFSBF, F/M, Marayne, Not as animals, Zootopia reskin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-12
Updated: 2016-07-18
Packaged: 2018-07-23 13:02:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7464270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AniecaSophistica/pseuds/AniecaSophistica
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU of plot of Zootopia. Marasi Colms struggles to be a constable as women are missing and no one is taking her seriously. As evidence points to a twinborn heading the Vanishers, tensions against them grow. High Lord Waxillium's associate may be able to help her solve the case if he wasn't too busy being difficult with her. Wayne x Marasi,  Waxillium x Steris. Alloy of Law timeline. No Shadows Spoilers.</p>
<p>Cross posted to FF.net and Tumblr. <br/>Lady-Mistborn. Tumblr. Com</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I have been out of the FF community for years. I hope you like this. I mentioned on my tumblr that I would maybe write this and if everyone is nice about it, I'll keep going.
> 
> Wayne and Marasi are a hillarious duo we don't see much of in combination (well as much as I'd like) in Alloy or Shadows. I think they would make a great team, so I wrote this for you. I think the themes of Zootopia and Alloy/Shadows are shared and the characters fit well in that world.

** Prologue **

"I want to be a law hero." Marasi said to her mother as she sat at the table. Fourteen-year-old Marasi sat with perfect posture at the small dining table that took up most of the small room. Her mother thought table manners could not be taught without one so despite the space it took up, they had one. Everyone else she knew just had a small kitchen table but they had an elegant wood table, properly set with a tablecloth and real fine silver silverware and crystal glasses.

Her mother glanced up at her with a sigh. "Marasi…"

"I want to make a difference. I want to help people. I want to go to the roughs and help people." She said excitedly, her voice growing louder as she talked, bouncing excitedly.

"Marasi, you are a noblewoman. Your place is here, in the city. Your place is to manage a household and have children." Her mother looked at her seriously, calmly and sternly.

Marasi frowned at her mother slightly. "No. I am going to go help people. That is more important." She said in a very formal noble tone. Her mother respected that tone of voice more than when she acted childish and protested.

Marasi could not wait to be out of the house. Two more years. At sixteen she could go to university to be a law analyst and at 18 she could apply to be a constable. She could not wait.

"Marasi. You are a noblewoman, you cannot run off and be a constable or lawman. No noblewoman ever do that. Shooting people and fighting and all that… ridiculous. Simply ridiculous."

"Then I suppose I will be the first." Marasi said and looked at her mother and frowned a bit more. "May I be excused, mother?"

"Very well," her mother said, waving her off. "Please get over your childish fantasies, Marasi." She said watching her daughter stand up from the table.

Marasi studied her mother for a moment before she just walked out of the room, not taking her dishes. A noblewoman didn't handle such things – her mother would appreciate the gesture.

Marasi went to her friend Katlin's ranch. Most of the women weren't from noble families. Most of them had fields they worked or in lucky cases, owned. Her mother was one of the few in the estates that did neither, but her father's support was enough to afford a small home outside of the city proper.

As she approached her friend's stables, hoping to get some riding in, she saw her friend Katlin cornered by a man. Her brain told her to analyze what was going on, who the man was, what he might be doing there.

Marasi was scared for her friend as she realized that it was Lord Eller Bening. He was the town mayor's son. He was a known twinborn. Nobleman, allomancer _and_ terris ferring. Powerful. Dangerous. He was terribly strong, a gift of his ferring powers, and a coinshot. A terrifying combination.

Katlin glanced toward her, terrified. They all feared Lord Eller Bening. He was known for pressuring and playing around with younger girls in town. They were all scared one day it wouldn't just be playful, that someone would get hurt. He could get away with such things, being the mayor's son.

Marasi analyzed the situation. She didn't have metal on her, it was something her mother had taught her early on. One of the few pieces of advice that she thought _was_ useful. Marasi didn't have anything to use as a weapon either. She had wanted to learn to a rifle; most of the girls did, if only for protecting their farms and themselves. One wouldn't have done good against a coinshot anyway, she reminded herself.

She was afraid, but she could not leave her friend. Sure she was risking retribution, but she wanted to be a law hero. That started here. She would not let her friend get hurt. That's what Dawnshot would do, she told herself and marched forward.

She grabbed a wooden handled broom, and then ran up and hit the man with all her might. It was a terribly foolish move but the man had not seen her coming and let go of Katlin in his surprise. Katlin slipped to the ground, scooting away from her toward Marasi.

"Oh, pretty noble girl, you want to play? I'll play with you. I don't care if you're wearing a pretty skirts or not." Marasi felt afraid as the man grabbed the broom, pulling it from her hands, knocking her off balance and snapping it in his bare hands. It splintered with no resistance. She made a terribly connection of the snapping to how easily he could break her own bones. He grabbed her by her neck, easily towing her against the building, feet off the ground, choking her.

Her mind went through her self-defense advice desperately. Most of it was useless. It did say resistance on the part of the intended victim could stop a kidnapping attempt; she hoped this would work the same way. She just had to survive. It was the key tenant of her belief system. And she couldn't help people if she was dead.

Marasi waited until he was close enough and she smashed her knee into his stomach. He was so shocked that he let go of her for a moment. He was a pewter ferring and she knew the move wouldn't buy her much time. Before she could move to run, however, she felt a piece of metal forcing her to the ground. The cold metal coin against her forehead. He stood over her, angry with her, glaring at her. The coin strained against her skull, like it could rip through at any moment. She didn't know if it could but coinshots had been used as assassins for centuries. They still were a few in every octant constabulary group, a part of her mind told her.

She lay frozen, thinking, his body then pressed against hers, looking into her eyes. A predatory grin in his eyes. "I could so easily kill you, girl. But you're just not my type." A chill went through her body but the pressure on the coin lessened and he let her go. "And you want to be a law hero." He laughed and she sat up resting against the farm door, resting her aching head against her knees. She pulled her dress over her legs as he walked away, leaving her with Katlin.

"Marasi." A soft voice said. Marasi looked up at Katlin. The girl smiled at her. "Thank you for saving me."

"I didn't do much at all." Marasi said, glancing down, disappointed in herself.

"You're from a noble house, you're an allomancer, he can't hurt you, he knows it. But me, he knows no one would care what happened to me. No one cares what happens to me... No one but you. So thank you. I thought… well you probably know how I felt. So thank you." She knelt down beside Marasi and taking her hands in hers. "Thank you. The world does need people like you, Marasi. To help the rest of us."

Marasi snuck in the back door as she came home, not wanting her mom to see her head, it had pressed hard enough to leave a blood marked circular scar. There would probably always be a mark there. She sighed and pulled out scissors. She cut bangs for herself, and while she was at it, cut her long curly hair so it was more manageable. She could braid it up so it couldn't be grabbed in a fight that way. She wasn't prepared yet to be a constable, but she was determined to not give up. Not while there were people who needed her.


	2. A Twinborn Encounter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marasi is out of the academy and gets her first big job. It's nothing of what she expected. And neither is the kitchen boy.

**Chapter 2**

Marasi was half constable trainee, half legal analyst. They were her chosen fields. She had failed every one of her physical examinations the first day, while doing excellent on her written ones. They said she’d make a fine desk sergeant someday, and a fantastic desk clerk until then. Marasi sat exhausted and out of breath as the others in her group, all men, laughed at her.

She was a noblewoman. Her life had not been like most of these men, no running, no field work. No physical strength, no speed to aid her. She had a lifetime of training for sitting and looking pretty, but she would not give up. She got up early and worked at the gym as she repeated her lessons to herself. She ran in the evening until she collapsed into her bed.

Her instructors marveled and praised her as their ‘dear sweet, cute, noblewoman’ began to beat some of the other trainees in races. She learned to be agile. She would not be the fastest or strongest, but she could be smart and clever. She stood proudly at graduation with the best marks and having exceeded everyone’s expectations. Her physical scores were above average, her marksmanship and written exams perfect. She was the valedictorian of her class.

…

Her mother stood with her at the station. She held her single bag and wore an estate’s dress. She would be staying with her father in the city. Part of her was very excited to be in the city again. Despite her love for roughs dress, horseback riding, and shooting; there was part of her that did love the elegant dresses and parties. She had never gotten to go to them when she was younger, but her father had agreed to let her attend. It was her mother’s condition for letting her start at the constabulary. Her mother thought this was a _phase_ that her daughter would quickly grow out of when she saw the parties in the city. She hoped Marasi would settle down with a nice nobleman instead.

Her plan was to one day- when she had enough experience- go to the roughs.

“Be safe, Marasi.” Her mother said. Her mother rested a small package in her hands. “Please be safe.”

“I will.” Marasi said to her.

“Do not embarrass your father, either, Marasi. Please.” Her mother said exhausted. Her eyes held worry too.

“I will not. I promise not to cause any trouble for them.” Marasi stated firmly, reassuring her mother.

“Do not make me regret letting you go.” Her mother said sternly.

Marasi nodded and turned to go but stopped. She set her bag back down and wrapping her arms around her mother tightly. “I love you.” Marasi said.

Her mother loosely held her. “I love you too, Marasi. Be safe.” Marasi nodded as she let go, picking up her bag and climbing on the train.

She sat on the train in her compartment and unwrapped the box. In it was a gun. It was different than any she had ever held, a one shot and this one- she guessed- was made out of mostly aluminum. It would cost a small fortune. Marasi had not known these even existed, although there were rumors. It was lightweight, small and capable of being tucked into a pocket in her dress or a small handbag. Like with the bullets in the box, she would guess, were all undetectable by coinshots.

Marasi had never seen her mother look at guns, only showing discontent at the ‘barbarious inventions’. Marasi appreciated the thought. She didn’t believe in harming others if at all possible but this could come in handy. She tucked it and some bullets into her bag and excitedly looked out the window. The grand city of Elendel was so close from her home, and yet so far away.

She couldn’t wait to change the city. To help people.

...

“There are four missing noblewoman in the city and you barely have the resources to cover that and you’re having me police a _party_.” Marasi said. “Women are being KIDNAPPED!”

“Yes, I like everyone else in the _entire_ _city_ are aware of the missing women, _constable_ Colms. However, _you_ are needed there. Maybe you will find the killers there.” Reddi said.

“They are being kidnapped from trains and major venues. You should increase security…” She backed away nervously as her commander suddenly stood up, towered over her, glaring.

“I am aware of the cases, as I said Colms. Now go get all dolled up for the party like a good noblewoman.”

“Dolled up?” She was surprised more than insulted.

“Well we are not going to send you in looking like a constable, of course, that would make guests nervous. Even if it was you.” He smirked. “Think of it this way, maybe someone at the party will be kidnapped and you can stop them.”

She gave him a look. What organization would try to kidnap people from a party? That would be insane. They were trying to be sneaky, a party with so many people would be stupid to target.

…

Marasi went with her half-sister and father to the party. It was a solid cover. No one knew she was a constable anyway. However, no one would likely listen to her if anything happened either.

She froze when she saw her sister walk in with Waxillium Ladrian. Sure he was a nobleman, but he was also a coinshot, and a twinborn. He made her terrible nervous, her body keep her handbag close on instinct. He was charming and funny, yes, but so had Lord Femming. Everyone even in Elendel loved him and adored him. She just hoped he wasn’t at any parties she was at, not that he’d likely recognize her. They hadn’t run into each other in years. His parents had moved him to the city to be with his uncle because of his ‘behavior problems’. All the prep schools in the world couldn’t straighten the boy out, and they played it off like he was a child just having fun. She scrunched her dress in her hands, angry at the world for a moment.

“Ahem.” Steris said and Marasi looked up. “Lord Ladrian, my cousin Marasi, as I said.”

Marasi blushed and stood there nervously. He took her hand casually clasping and shaking them.

“Yes, of course, a pleasure I’m sure.” He smiled at her before sitting down beside her.

Her instincts were drawn away from a party to a loud mouthed serving man who seemed to flirt and move about all the tables. He was terris with noble features and her mind warned her he might be twinborn. To be cautious. It was a silly thought. The chance of him being twinborn were slim, there were a handful of them in the world. A serving boy who was misbehaving was _not_ a threat.

However, as she studied him more, he _was_ behaving strangely. She watched as he brushed people, listening in on conversations, spending too much time assigned to tables that wasn’t theirs. Theirs was the one he had directly spoken to and delivered food too. Suspicious behavior indeed. Was he preparing to kidnap someone? She grew tense and made excuse to slip away mid-meal. This got her a confused look from her father, a disapproving one from Steris and a curious one from Waxillium.

She followed the man, slipping quickly into the serving area. She jumped when she found herself pinned to the wall on the other side. She nearly screamed – not terribly profession, she thought later- as the man put his hand over her mouth. Her eyes wide as she caught sign of a time bubble. The way the others in the room stand frozen told her that he was a slider.

They were the more terrifying types of allomancers, but she stiffened further as she realized that gold bands on his wrists like watches were feruchemical bracers. The quality of gold required was too high for any serving boy to afford.

Her mind had one thought: Twinborn. Then after a long time of just staring and fear, as her mind fought against the anxiety, it remembered rumors. Rumors said the head of the Vanishers was lead by a powerful twinborn. A near immortal one who used gold. A slider – bloodmaker would be impossibly hard to catch, moving quickly in and out of bubbles. Gunshots would hardly slow him down.

She had dropped her bag in the struggle and the man jumped a bit as he looked at the gun that fell free. His body tensing nervously and looking at her. He kept her pinned but let go of her mouth. The bubble’s sound distortions would mean it hardly mattered anyway. She knew she’d be dead in seconds to those outside anyway. It was Lord Fenning all over again, but far worst.

The man looked into her eyes, displeased over something.

“You’re the head of the vanishers.” She said. The man released her immediately, stepping back.

“What?” He said, sounding different than he had at their table.

“You’re going to kill me… or kidnap me.”

“What? No. Of course not.” The man said, relaxing. She blinked and he was wearing a roughs duster with a beaten up old hat. “Nah, I’m just a conman looking for some marks, nothing like that, miss.” She paused as he slipped into a street tone, like street thiefs used. Like a teenage kid. He looked quite a bit older than that.

“Did you take anything?” She asked, looking at him. Scanning him.

“Not so much as yet, and I doubt you could catch me if you wanted. I’d have ditched them before you could.” He grinned, having won. She couldn’t do a thing to stop this man.

He stood there and she reached for the bag and her gun slowly. He looked nervous but not like he was going to do anything to stop her.

“No, I can’t do anything.” She said picking it up but not moving to pull out the gun. “Clever. What’s your name?”

“Don’t see why that’s relevant.” He said with a grin. “Well I’m just going to be on my way, darling. You’re pretty, I hope we meet again.” He winked at her and he was gone.

She stood there, realizing he had just likely moved to the other side of the door, before sneaking back to the party. Her sister gave her a look, knowing something was up but she pretended she wasn’t feeling the best but well enough not to be bothered.


	3. The Man Behind the Accents

The next day, a Saturday morning, early, she accompanied her sister and father to a meeting to discuss her sister’s pending engagement to Waxillium Ladrian. He had been pleasant the entire night, kind and sympathetic to her sickness. She looked at him wearily and yet tried to push her suspicious aside. He did seem nice. But how could Steris trust him? How could she live with the man? He was fifteen years older than Steris, and could easily overpower her and make her do what he wanted. Did Steris have any sense of self-preservation?

However, Steris didn’t seem concerned as she politely nodded to Waxillium as a man pushed into the sitting room. She jumped up pointing at the man behind Waxillium. Waxillium spun, pulling a gun and shocking all of them.

“You!” 

“What?” Waxillium said, looking between her and the man, confused.

“He’s the thief from the party last night!”

“What thief?” Steris said, worriedly.

“I ran into him because he was acting suspiciously at the party.”

Steris looked terribly offended that she would investigate at a _party_ , but her father just looked to the man. She paused questioning as he now wore a fine noble suit and bowed politely to them.

“My dear, I’m afraid you must be mistaken, I don’t think we have ever met. Lord Aning. Lord Ladrian is my cousin and I am just here on a visit.” He sounded like a nobleman, a fine sophisticated one.

“No, you…” she began.

He quickly winked at her, grinning a bit, before looking at the guests. “You must be mistaken. Waxillium mentioned you were sick last evening, how unfortunately, a fever perhaps?”

She went red in embarrassment and anger as her sister and father looked at her. Waxillium, she noted, did not look at her like she was insane. However, it was little comfort. Great, she thought, only the other twinborn believes me. _Other_ twinborn. The man had vague resemblance to him; she wouldn’t have connected them. But he _could_ _actually_ be a relative of Waxillium’s. She wasn’t sure what he was doing stealing and conning nobleman. Unless it was just what twinborn did when no one was watching them.

Through the evening, she glared at the man when her family’s backs were turned and he smirked back at her. She had to sit through the entire evening as Steris and Waxillium planned engagements and talked pleasantries.

“Ah yes, we are all very glad Waxillium’s lawman days are behind him,” the man said, patting his friend on the back.

“Lawman days?” Marasi asked, sitting up and looking at him.

Steris glared at him.

“Ah yes,” Wax said embarrassingly. “I patrolled a little town and took bounties for years before returning to take over my house.”

“Where? What city?”

“Oh I doubt you’d know of it, just a little town to the north west…”

“Weathering.” She said, immediately.

He blinked in surprise. “Yes, actually.”

She sat up excitedly. “Have you ever met Dawnshot?” She asked in excitement, earning her looks from her family but she was too excited to care.

The other man laughed hard. “Know him?” the man laughed. “He _is_ him.”

“What?” Marasi said, looking to Waxillium for confirmation.

“The lavender cravat, the noble posturing and polite etiquette, the multiple guns he drags around, coinshot, skimmer. You’re talking to him.” Lord Aning – if that was his real name - said.

“What is this about?” Steris asked.

“Nothing, just a name I went by in the roughs.” Waxillium said, giving the man a look.

Marasi blushed deeply. “I am sorry for bringing it up.” He waved it off.

The other man just grinned.

…

Marasi was miserable for days as she worked on the cases in her free moments. With no new evidence turning up and being banned from the newest information by her commander, she grew excited when she saw a young noble lord walk in.

“Lord Toren, I’m sorry but we are looking into your wife’s disappearance, of course, but there are so many cases and we just don’t have the people.” Her captain said immediately. She moved closer to overhear. She had a terrible habit of it.

She had overheard Reddi say that Lord Toren and his house were not well off as most of the other women's houses. The constabulary had more important people to look over, Marasi thought frowning. It was terribly unfair. She guessed if she was taken no one would try to find her at all. Lord Toren’s wife was illegitimate, but from a good line on her father’s side, like Marasi was.

“Please, Aria’s pregnant with our child… I couldn’t bear if anything happened to her.” Lord Toren said.

“I’ll take the case, commander.” Marasi said stepping in. “I know we are very busy but I will work twice as hard if I have to.” She stood strong and confidently. She knew it was a dangerous move and Reddi would be angry at her.

“Constable Colms, you are already far too busy with _your_ job to take these cases.” He said with a glare.

“I think it’s a fine idea.” They both turned to see the governor standing behind them.

At his side was a slightly younger noblewoman. His secretary. She was a law student three years older than Marasi. An extremely bright woman, one of only few women to go through the law analyst program. “Polls say people do not think you are doing a very good job, captain. I’m sure we can approve the overtime for young miss Colms. She was top of her class in law and at the academy.” Katlin Berring said. “Your case is in wonderful hands, Lord Toren.”

Lord Miquel Toren looked at Marasi kindly and took her hands. She blinked and blushed. “Thank you, I appreciate you working extra hard to help find her. I couldn’t bear if anything happened to her.”

“Yes, of course.”

Reddi glared at her behind the man’s back. The governor and his assistant left and he walked up to her and cornered her. She stood firm though. “Colms, I’m giving you three days to solve this case or else you better quit. I will not tolerate insubordination. I heard about your incident at the party, people saw you harashing a _serving_ _boy_.” She blinked.

“I—“

“He was acting _suspiciously_ , was he? A _serving boy?_ ” He looked at her. “For all your tests, I don’t think you’re made out to do this. Tests _can_ be faked. We tolerate you because it makes us look good. Look, we have a noblewoman with us, see how valuable she is, and how they let you over step people who slowly worked their way up here. You’ve been here months and yet what have you done?” She frowned at him but didn’t argue back.

“Fine, three days.” She agreed. She felt foolish after. It seemed an impossible.

He smirked. “Three days and you will be happily gone.” He pulled a file and tossed it to her. “Have fun, Colms.”

She stomped out and she looked at the file. The woman, Lord Toren's wife, Aria Toren, had been kidnapped on her way back from the estates. No one had seen anything. The train had been robbed coming from the roughs, from Weathering, stopping once at the northern estates and then in Elendel.  She asked for a list of names and one name showed up that she knew. A fake name, she guessed. She smirked a bit herself.

…

‘Lord Aning’ jumped as she cornered him and stood with a street constable. “Constable, did you see that man pick-pocket that woman’s purse?” She asked.

The young constable froze and looked at her. “Yes Constable Colms.” He said with a nod, looking nervously at ‘Lord Aning’. This man was twinborn, she didn’t blame him for his fear. She felt the same way. She clutched her gun close to her at her side. The one she had been given by her mother. She gave the man a look.

The man grinned slightly. “I suppose you want something?” he walked up to her, ignoring the constable.

“You were on the 9:15 arrival train from Weathering to Elendel three days ago, the day of the party.”

The man paused. “Yeah, how’d you know that?”

“You used the same fake name.” She said.

“Ah yes, real sloppy of me.” The man laughed. 

“A woman was kidnapped from that train while they were robbing it.”

“Yeah, I know, I went to stop the robbery, they were gone before I got there.” He frowned genuinely.

“Oh yes, you went to stop it. More like help them.”

“Ey! I _was_ trying to help them. How should I have expected she’d been kidnapped from my box while I was gone?” He was upset, and sounded sort of childish like he had the other nights. A roughs accent maybe?

She snatched the pocketbook from his hand and tossed it to the constable. “I can play this off, but I think this would mean bad problems for Waxillium if news got out about you. His house is in bad shape as it is. And hard enough for him being twinborn in the city isn’t it? And you… two twinborn… hard life for him to find a wife to save his house like that… not with another twinborn kidnapping women.”

“You’re manipulating me.” He said, half shocked, half amused.

“I am. See, I looked you up.” She walked around him. “Kid Wayne, Waxillium’s former partner, twinborn. An expert in disguises and social manipulation, they say. A genius of accents in particular.” It explained a lot.

“So?”

“They say you’ve tracked down where people had headquarters from just their accents. I have a few people who heard them speak. Think you can pull that trick on them?”

“No way. I won’t be your snitch. And picking an accent off of a man who heard another man speak, impossible. I’d have to hear him myself to do it, and that doesn’t always work. It’s not rustin’ alomancy.”

“If I get you someone to interrogate, could you?”

“Maybe, but where are you going to get one of them?”

“We’ll see. You see, I’ve been sent undercover. And my theory says I am a very likely next target.”

“What?”

“They’re searching, I think, for allomantically-gifted noblewoman. Young ones.”

“Yeah but you… you’re just some minor noblewoman’s cousin.”

“Half sister. Illegitimate half-sister. But if it slipped out who I was, and _what_ I was.”

“You’d mess your half-sister or whatever’s reputation badly. You’d risk yourself too. You're rustin' insane.”

“I’m prepared to take that risk.” She said firmly. “I will find them.”

“Why do you care so much? You’re illegitimate. I saw how they treat you, everyone knows about you and how they treat you at the constabulary. I looked you up too.”

“Because I want to help people, and these are people’s wives, daughters and siblings. They are women who are kidnapped from their homes, and I want to save them.”

“Fine, good, you catch them and I’ll happily point you in the right direction if you find someone.”

“Good.” She looked at the constable.

“Please that to Constable Hemming. File a report, but do not send it, not yet.” She said and looked at Wayne. “You are going to help me catch the kidnappers.”

“You’re insane. And you are in _way_ over your head.”

“We’ll see.”


End file.
